This has been a strange year thus far for sports teams and it's only going to continue to be so until all restrictions on public gatherings because of the coronavirus outbreak are lifted.
In the meantime, at least in the NFL, they're trying to make the best of the hand they've been dealt.
The league just completed its draft, and despite some early grousing -- mostly from media types -- it went off without a hitch and was very well received. How well?
According to the Nielsen ratings, the draft established new benchmarks for each of its three days and averaged an audience of 15.6 million viewers on the NFL Network, ABC and ESPN. That figure was up 37 percent from 2019.
Though the viewership dropped off on Friday and Saturday, they still were well watched, with 8.2 million viewers on Friday and 4.2 million on Saturday for the final four rounds. Those marked increases of 40 and 32 percent over 2019.
The league also learned some things from the virtual event. Though Cleveland has already been announced as the site for next year's draft, look for the league to continue some of the practices it put in place this year.
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